since its opening in nineteen seventy three Fort Wayne Zahed United Center has been a regional venue for theatrical and musical performances civic and community gatherings for more than fifty years the Arts United Center has been the crown jewel of Fort Wayne's arts campus, embodying the design elements of world renowned architect Louis Kahn.

>> The theater which I am building in Fort Wayne , Indiana.

>> I came to the conclusion that one must distinguish the auditorium and the stage as a violin a sensitive instrument they want us to hear that a whisper could be heard without any amplification and that the lobbies and all other adjunct spaces are merely that which composes the violin case that distinction the violin and the violin case they look completely different from each other.

>> Louis Kahn had a concept for what a performing arts space should be and could be.

He wanted the experience for the audience to be something that was magical.

He wanted that experience to be something that really allowed them to get into this space.

So he created this building actually a building inside the outer shell of the building.

>> He wanted to shelter the interior space from whatever was going on externally at the building in Fort Wayne .

>> That means that the elevated rail behind the building which creates a lot of noise and vibration would have that and disruptive to the auditorium and the stage.

>> So here he insulated the auditorium and the stage through what he called a violin inside a violin case.

A lot of people would call it just a box inside a box but essentially the auditorium chamber and its catwalks all the way up to the proscenium opening are encased in concrete, completely separate from the exterior building that wraps around it after more than five decades of service ground was broken recently to ensure that this community theater is well equipped to serve the next generation.

We'll talk about the soaring vision plans for the Arts United Center with president and CEO Dan Ross on this week's prime time and welcome.

>> And we are glad to have you with us.

I'm Bruce Haines along with Dan Ross and also from our Tonight at Miriam Morgan.

Joyce, as you saw her in the documentary segment a moment ago, vice president of Operations Chief Operating Officer Dan President and CEO and we love to get to know you as well in our time together.

If you have a question or comment, you see a phone number there, you can check in with us.

Just dial that number and we'll take it from there.

One of the things that we wanted to be sure you knew is our documentary about a home for the arts can be seen to give you additional background.

Think of it as maybe a little personal homework assignment.

But a home for the arts can be found on our Web site PBS Fort Weinberg.

And as you watch that piece by our producer Jonathan Thalis, I can tell you it is a recent winner of a national tele award for video production in the short documentary format A Silver Statue and this summer of awards being given for great efforts and what a tremendous effort to so Dan and Miriam, let me find out more from you because 50 years is a very long ,short time when you're stewarding a community asset like the United States.

>> You know that is absolutely true 50 years and it seems as if it has flown by.

I will say I played my first concert in that building 40 years ago when it was only 10 years old.

And so for me it seems like that time has flown by.

But you know, it is an amazing building.

It is an architectural Masterpiece but it has some challenges as a 50 year old building it has not kept up with theatrical technology.

That technology's really outdated.

But you know, most importantly it has some significant accessibility challenges and our goal in this project has been to ensure that this building will serve all people of our community for the next 50 years.

>> And so what we've really focused on is trying to ensure that we're addressing the technological needs that we're looking forward, that we're being forward thinking and the technology needs but also that we're addressing the needs of of the patrons who come to attend a performance, the performers on stage, the people who work backstage, the volunteers.

You know, we want to make sure that this is a truly accessible to civility for all people who utilize it and that we'll be able to bring more people more organizations into the facility.

So we're really excited about what this renovation is and yes, we've looked back at the last 50 years and love that.

But we're excited about looking forward to the next fifty to yeah.

>> I had seen a piece just a moment ago that had said Prometa Park is celebrating its fifth anniversary and you wonder where those years went.

And so Miriam years five years times 10 and you get the 50 and as a home for the arts so many organizations have husky's because they use the facility for over the over that time it is the home stage of many near and dear organizations to this community like the forming civic theater and the Fort Wayne Ballet, Fort Wayne Youth Theater Dance Collective, the orchestra, the Foreign Philharmonic and many others.

There are children who you know do all of their dance recitals on that stage every single year and attend all kinds of events and oftentimes it is the first time that children interact with the performing arts by attending as part of a school group and so it truly is a community center disguised as a theater where everyone who participates in in the performing arts or has a desire to participate in the performing arts can either perform work backstage or be an audience member.

>> And it's just such a lovely space to be in with those activities.

>> This question is for you both.

But let me start with Maria because in your role with operations, what does 50 years of service for a building like that as audiences, performers, performances and such change and evolve and grow, how has that collective activity impacted the capabilities of the art?

>> Sure.

Well, theatrical technology for one keeps up with the pace of any other modern technology your cell phone and all of those sorts of things and and the infrastructure in the building is 50 years old.

I like to say that it's Apollo era technology and and so to be able to do modern performances that serve modern audience needs you know, it is challenging with the current infrastructure but this project will modernize all of those things automated rigging with variable speed drives that you know, individuals of all abilities can utilize and access.

Those are the very important things we talk about accessibility for this project and accessible for us is everything from accessibility for people attending a performance, people who are performing on stage, people who are working backstage and employees and we want to ensure that not only is the space physically accessible but that the equipment within the space is also accessible.

>> So the front of house audio mix position will be accessible, the rigging system will be accessible for someone even if they need to be in a seated position stage manager position lighting control, things like that.

And so for us, you know, it is important to modernize for everyone and people of all abilities and as you say, you've experienced it from the stage looking out and you now are thinking in terms of that way plus all of us in the audience looking back at you and everything around us to make that memory stick and maybe the take away hasn't changed over half a century but getting there might be more difficult now than you might have been not that long ago.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Well, and one of the things that we've really tried to incorporate into this project is the concept of universal design knowing it when you design to ensure that people who have challenges are able to utilize these facilities, it also makes it so much better for all people to utilize facilities.

You know, for instance, it's we have vertical accessibility challenges.

We're puttin in two new elevators and we're trying to address some of those issues addressing mobility seating options in ways that we've not had in the past but also people who have visual impairments.

For instance, it can be challenging to walk down the stairs inside a darkened theater.

Well, we're going to be putting nose lighting on those stair treads so that it won't be intrusive, it won't interfere with the production but it allows people who are walking down a darkened stair to ensure that they're not going to trip and fall.

So you know, those sort of things help individuals with visual impairments but they help all people who are going to be walking down those stairs and you know, we all get older.

We all from time to time will injure ourselves and I think the changes that we're making are going to make a better experience for all people.

>> I understand correctly this also kind of came together on the same whiteboard after about an eight year plus or so planning process.

>> What was that like?

Yes, this has been a long time coming and one of the things that we're just so incredibly grateful for is the support that we've had from the community and the engagement of the community because it has been a long, long planning process with a lot of community engagement in that planning process, you know, working with our arts partners but also working with elected officials, economic development leaders, looking at how this building impacts our community.

The arts campus truly is an anchor and that in the Northeast quadrant of downtown Fort Wayne and still wanting to ensure that as we're building towards the future, you know, we're really looking at our neighborhood and being an anchor in our neighborhood and so it has been exciting to be on this journey with so many partners helping us to get there over a long, long period of time and certainly the funding community has been there for us in a in a significant way as well.->> Quiy nearly a decade alone and background and research and somehow I imagine the spirit of Louis Huhn every so often inside a committee room because you want to be careful but you know you've got to not stay where you are because that's not going to be cutting it going forward.

>> Yeah, you know, preserving this iconic landmark for our community one of a kind the only one in the world is is very important but making sure that it retains its original pprimary intent that it is a performing arts theater first and foremost and in our community the use of this know, for all individuals to be able to access it and and you know, the the marketplace has changed and the needs of consumers and the public have changed and it's very important for us to make sure that all of those individuals can participate.

And as Dan is saying, we involved a lot of stakeholders during that process including people from the disabled community.

>> We brought in the Northeast Indiana Disability Advocacy Coalition to make sure that we were not just making decisions on behalf of people but asking them truly what are what are your needs when you come to this space?

How can we make this space better for you, a better experience for all and so so I'm just so excited.

>> Yes, a long process but a long and necessary process.

It was a soaring vision in the 60s before its first incarnation.

>> Tell me about the soaring vision now as we head to Art United Center 2.0.

Yeah, that is a great, great point because when our community embarked upon this project in the nineteen sixties this was the largest fundraising campaign that had ever happened in the community.

It took 10 years to raise the four million dollars that was needed to construct the building originally today we've embarked on a forty million dollar campaign.

Forty two million actually and we're just thrilled with support we've had from the community from both the public sector and the private sector locally the city the county commissioners, the Capital Improvement Board, the Fort Wayne New Markets Revitalization Fund, the Regional Development Authority for Northeast Indiana supporting this project through the through the state the IDC we've had tremendous support but we've also had tremendous support from the private sector and we announced at our groundbreaking that we had raised about thirty nine billion dollars towards a forty two million dollar to complete the entire project the way it really needs to be done to serve the community.

So we were looking at a gap of about three million dollars but during our groundbreaking day a very generous donor, Chuck Sorich let us know that he and his wife Lisa would be contributing a million dollars which immediately reduced our gap from three million down to two million which was just fantastic, really exciting for us.

But you know, we still have work to do and we're going to continue to do that work to make sure that we that we hit our goal.

>> We have a couple of images from groundbreaking day which always is a joyous time because it is something that you also sort of see on paper and never heard until the moment when they hand you the shovel and say you want that end toward the grass.

>> But there is heavy haze I think CEO Adewusi Foundation also part of that accessability activity to make that community theater so much more community.

And then the great lineup this begins the timeframe between ground groundbreaking and ribbon cutting.

What is the time line for this work?

>> Well, we have construction overall is anticipated to take about fifteen months.

The Hagaman construction team that we've been working with, they've been fantastic.

It's been great to work with Hagaman and Makem has been leading our design team just great great community partners .

They've been at work already before the actual groundbreaking event.

We're anticipating being finished and opening back up in the fall of twenty twenty five.

So over these next twelve months there's going to be lots of lots of work being done.

We're excited to get not just figurative shovels in the ground but the real big shovels and getting the work going.

>> Miriam, how does this challenge I can imagine the answer is easily the logistics for organizations say like civic theater or the ballet.

Where will the Nutcracker be?

>> Where will the opening night of the new season take place?

Have those things been tackled?

It has it is a challenge but they're taking their shows on the road and and that's very exciting.

They'll be performing all over the community which will in some ways make them more accessible to people in different areas which is really great.

And Arts United is providing them access to the loose equipment, loose theatrical equipment that we've used in the theater for years to be able to help support those types of productions.

>> So it is quite an undertaking to get all of those things out of the building and find new performing stages.

But it is also an exciting time to showcase that work to other areas in the community and do it on different stages.

So very exciting and when they come back the center will be Arts United 2.0 and we will have added a new technology for them augmented reality lighting that really helps enhance their productions automated ringin Senik Stage Trappes all of the accouterment that they could need to put on modern production.

>> So we're very excited.

>> You know it's a classic argument sometimes too that says I don't fly.

I will travel by plane.

Why should I support the airport?

But when it comes to the airport and the arts and sports facilities and trails, talk to me again about the importance and the integral nature of the arts, why that is key to the future of this region.

>> Yeah, that's such a great point.

Arts and culture are such a driver of activity in this community.

They are in an economic driver.

We are as one of our our colleagues one of our supporters had told us we are not a cost center.

We're a revenue center for the community at large arts and cultural experiences bringing people into this community they attract the talent that we need that attracts the businesses that we need.

Fort Wayne has been blessed to have an incredibly strong arts and cultural scene for a long time but it's really been recognized recently in national publications as one of the factors that's driving this community.

As you know, Fort Wayne is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the Great Lakes region and has been for several years and our our vibrant downtown is a critical component of that.

>> The arts and culture scene is a critical component of a vibrant downtown and this is why the effort is being expended as part of that crown jewel buffing and getting it back to its brilliance as the arts campus leader and the Beacon of it all in northeast Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana.

And here is more in fact on the work and behind the scenes thinking of the assorting vision for the arts tonight.

>> Take a look.

I just think story is so important it presents so many different points of view.

That's where we get our compassion in life is that we learn other people's story.

The arts provide us opportunities to be educated, to be entertained, to expand our World Vision, to learn about other cultures.

I'll never forget just being mesmerized by this show.

Your parents might take you to Lake Blue's Clues live at the embassy.

But there's just something about this community show that you watch these people that are just in your town doing the show completely for free and they're putting their heart and soul into this.

I knew that I wanted to be on that stage at some point as a kid we can bring together people that act and people that work behind the stage and bringing stories to life .

>> What a great thing for Fort Wayne.

This theater is sort of an anchor and it's certainly the center of the cultural activity in Fort I. I didn't know where we would fit in thirteen years ago but now I really can't imagine our lives without being a part of Fort Wayne Ballet.

We nurture souls, we build self-esteem, we create an environment of teamwork team building and solving it teaches me how to communicate and work together.

A thriving arts community is the heartbeat of the community we give dimension and shape diversity and all of those things are critical.

I did my first show here when I was fifteen just two years after the building was built.

>> It was exciting and the building was brand new.

The fact that it was designed by Louis Kahn and people from all over the world have actually come to see this building.

>> What a treasure we have here .

>> It's a great building but it's a building of its time from 1970 at fifty years of age it needs some work done on it so that we can go the next 50 years.

It's about access and theater is truly for everyone right now in its current format people with a physical mobility issue or impairment aren't really able to participate fully.

We have had to carry a stage manager who is wheelchair all the way up those stairs to have access and participate in our shows.

We won't have to do that anymore.

A lot of people that are able to give their time as a volunteer might be a little bit older or retired or whatever and we really need a way to be able to get them into the building and maybe not have so many stairs and just, you know, make the bathroom accessible.

All those things people look at this campaign as a building campaign, a campaign specifically to renovate a building but it's really an investment in the community and its people.

We're going to be very true to contain ideas.

We're going to retrofit the light fixtures.

We're going to see this building kind of in all of a initial Shakuri the demands on the industry and the technology now and part of that renovation is key to keeping up with today's standards.

The technology is pretty outdated.

The building was opened fifty& years ago and not much has changed in that time.

We have a lot of updating to do.

The plan is not just to preserve the building but to bring it into this century and to make us support the arts community and in a more holistic way than what it does today.

We're leaving a legacy.

We're continuing these program so that they'll be here for the next twenty eight fifty one hundred years.

>> It's amazing what we have here and I think you have to really look at it and say I want more organization to be able to use that same great resource, that same great space we've all seen just in the last five years a tremendous change, you know, in the people that are moving in that are staying here and I believe we need to support that and I think arts is a big part of that.

You're not just investing in an organization.

You're investing in our future leaders.

That's what this campus has.

It builds pillars and the community it builds upstanding adults.

This building was built by the community for the community and should represent the community .

The degrees of separation within this community are so small between those who have experienced being on stage watching a performance from the audience from that from the ceiling inside the facility it is community writ large of the arts united center and to express audience that there is an idea of being able to include the community to get the happy ending.

>> Yes, absolutely.

You know we're excited that as we are pushing towards the finish line, you know, looking to close the gap on this project that we're launching a sponsor a seed campaign which provides an opportunity for community members who have a connection to this theater, who regularly have attended performances or have maybe been on that stage or maybe just want to make sure that this project moves forward that they can actually sponsor a seat to help move this project forward.

There's information about that on our website and just more information about what we're doing with the project as well.

And in fact we will be able to share with you right now.

And Miriam, you get the last word in about 20 seconds your aspirations for this.

>> Our theater needs to support world class theater.

The creation of world class theater by all members in the community and we are just so thrilled it will be able to do that for the next 50 years.

>> Arts United Doug and there is the phone number and these-hw for anything you may want to learn more about regarding the Arts United Center Miriam Morgan VP of Operations and CEO Dan Ross President and CEO of Arts United.

Thank you both so much.

Thank you for having us and thank you for having us as well.

>> I'm Bruce Haines for all of us with prime time take care.

We'll see you again soon.

Good night